I was tooling around the internet looking to see what artwork has been spoiled from Magic: The Gathering's upcoming Theros set today. I didn't find any of my cards just yet, but I did find a couple pictures of some of the concept designs I did.
I'm not sure what has or has not been mentioned in Theros articles, nor do I know what all has made it from concept to final product as far as ideas, so I feel I probably shouldn't speak of any details just yet. Never-the-less, perhaps I can be infuriatingly vague in order to keep this post from being mostly empty! Mind you, I have no idea what conceptual ideas made it to the final version of the world as far as the story and what-not so this information is just what I was thinking at the time - and may have little to no bearing on what is actually included in this set.
So, for these particular drawings, I was looking to develop the look and feel of warriors from three distinct regions in the Theros world. As with the concept designs I did for Lorwyn and Innistrad, it was important to have visual cues and shapes that make spotting and differentiating these Greeky peoples easier - but keeping it all feeling like it's from the same world.
They are all humans, so costuming was the key here. Warriors on the left wear/use polished, gleaming bronze, with white and cool-colors. Their crested helms are horse hair. In the middle are warriors that wear dark bronze, angular designs, and use reds and other deep, warm colors. Their crested helms are bronze. On the left, the warriors wear woven leathers in browns and greens. Their helms have leather crests.
There are other more subtle variations here and obviously this covers just atypical warriors and not magic users or regular civilians, etc. But the themes and visual cues are what I was trying to establish. You'll have to see the set when it comes out to see how much of this came through in the end!
Speaking of Theros, I'll be appearing for a handful of hours at the Theros prerelease Saturday September 21st at a shop called "Fog of Dusk" right here in Columbus, Ohio! I'll be signing cards and selling tantalizing Magic:TG artwork in various forms from 3:00 to 8:00. Come one, come all!
